


Weight of Sins

by DevinePhoenix



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Kitsunegeddon, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Youkai, no beta we die like men, youkai AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 12:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20742386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinePhoenix/pseuds/DevinePhoenix
Summary: Saito Hajime and Kenshin meet across a battlefield as similar bloodstained, inhuman patrons of a human war





	Weight of Sins

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah idk, this is an old fandom, but I grew up on Rurouni Kenshin and felt it could work. But to be honest my brain went, orange/red hair ---> FOX
> 
> (When I say 'grew up' I mean my first memory of Sunday morning cartoons is watching the Shishio fight. I have a feeling my parents were definitely not supervising)
> 
> I'm a little uncertain about some of the actual politics and history of the time, its been a while. I also dunno how the writing of the characters turned out since its been a while.

There had always been something off with Hittokiri Battousai.

He had appeared before the leaders of the rebellion with no warning or background like a ghost from a children’s legend. Stepping out of the wilderness with an ancient sword-style and the ‘appearance’ of a child. He appeared in the middle of camp to speak with their leaders and nobody known how he had even found the camp or made it to the center undetected.

He appeared, offering his services out of nowhere like a youkai from some legend, with hair a supernatural tint of orange. His strength and speed were almost unnatural, no one could do what he did, fight like he did, kill as many as he did. But his social interactions with his comrades were stilted and awkward, like he had to remember how regular people moved and acted.

Everybody knew in the back of their minds that this demon child could not be human.

But they didn’t ask.

He was on their side and he was helping them win. They didn’t want to ask directly, lest he vanish like most revealed Kitsunes in legend did. They couldn’t afford that.

They had Hittokiri Battousai

On the other side of the battlefield, there were the Wolves of Mibu.

They lived up to their names, vicious and bloody and brutal on the battlefield. The soldiers of the Isshin Shishi had spent enough time with the odd feeling their Hittokiri Battousai emanated to recognize it in others. Those wolves, they were almost certain, were Wolves.

They feared them, of course. They only had one demon but the Shinsengumi had many, it was a simple fear of numbers. Their Demon couldn’t be everywhere after all. Despite this overwhelming disadvantage, their Demon still managed to keep up.

There was a saying among the soldiers. If you prayed to the hittokiri, you would return from the battle. If you prayed in your moment of need, he would swoop down like a shadow and save you. He was their bloody ghost in the night, their good luck charm. Their God of War.

When the war ended, that Demon of theirs left his sword and vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. He had given them victory without any benefit to himself. They were almost certain then, that he had been something powerful and otherworldly, a god given flesh.

When the survivors returned home, they built shrines to that bloody demon of theirs. 

* * *

Saito Hajime met him on the twisted streets of battle, high on bloodlust and backed by his pack.

The Mibu weren’t all Wolves. The lower rank and file were most human and weaker youkai that were no different from a regular human. They were well organized and full of purpose and at the helm of their organization was the Wolves. The founding captains were Okami Daiyoukai, powerful wolf youkai.

Ordinarily, they would never have interfered in a human war. But their territory was in unrest and they would never stand for that. So, they had howled and summoned their packmates to war. They had had all grown up with each other and together they had entered the war to impose order on the world once more. They would honour their age-old pact with the throne and come to their defense as a pack of snarling, clever beasts to hunt down the rebels.

There was no way the rebellion could succeed with a full pack of daiyoukai against them.

But somehow, they did.

For on the other side, shrouded in illusion and blood, was _another Daiyoukai_.

It was only one, it shouldn’t have meant anything to an okami pack hunting together. Even if the opponent was strong, they had teamwork and a number advantage. That single Daiyoukai should’ve fallen quickly.

But somehow it really did not.

They went after it with all the slyness and cunning they possessed but they just couldn’t pin it down to finally corner and overwhelm it. When they finally got a good sniff of the Daiyoukai, they were floored. The fearsome Hittokiri Battousai that was running the Mibu in circles was nothing more than a juvenile kitsune kit.

After that, things got more difficult, they couldn’t kill the brat even if they wanted too. There was no telling what backing that Kitsune had. It was one thing to be a pack of Daiyoukai Okami, they were some of the strongest youkai and could gang up to take down opponents much stronger than them. But there were two kinds of youkai even they wouldn’t mess with.

The dragons, for self-explanatory reasons. Wolves were not fireproof. Or fall proof. Or drown-proof.

Kitsune may not be as powerful for most of their life but once they hit their ninth tail even a dragon would think twice before messing with them. Targeting a kitsune was tricky, even a kit could have a ninetail relative waiting in the wings. Even without the threat of divine retribution, they were illusive, shrouded in shadows. If you aimed to catch them, they were already gone.

And the final worrying thing, _no one knew how many tails Battousai had_.

He smelled like a kit, but he didn’t move like one. He moved like he had the full power of ninetails at his disposal. But he was too young to be a ninetails, it was a puzzle they could not solve. He also hit like a dragon. Everything about him was baffling to their senses. Scent clashing with aura, clashing with movement clashing with body posture. It was especially baffling to the wolves who read people based on subconscious cues.

And then the war ended, and he vanished.

Saito, who had also faked his death, knew there was no way the wily bastard hadn’t survived. And he was right.

(He met him ten years later, fangs purposefully blunted but his illusions as strong as ever.) 

* * *

It was ten years into the Meiji era. The long years of bloodshed had finally brought them peace. In the wake of that victory at Toba Fushimi, the new government had blunted their own fangs.

They banned swords, the lifeblood of the fighters. Some gave up their blades with a sigh of relief, eager to head back to their families. Some refused to give up without a fight. And some, already seduced by the copper of blood, continued their murderous rampages until they were put down. (For that reason alone, Saito Hajime remained) (For there were still mad dogs to put down)

The combative youkai, already bloodthirsty and riled from the war, abandoned humanity with disgust. They slipped into the wilderness, vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. They would never accept blunting of their claws and fangs. They had done their duty to the emperor and they were done. With the overturn of the government and the entrance of a brand-new era, the agreements to the throne were broken.

What few Youkai remained, wondered the land anonymously. They would have no more stake in human affairs.

No one had told Kenshin that.

(Not that he knew any other Youkai at all)

(Most were bound by the shogunate to pacts of non-aggression or alliance, none of them would help out the rebel cause)

(Abe-no-Seimei had truly laid out ironclad treaties with all the Youkai clans that lasted even now, when the Court Onmyojis had faded away)

Much like he had during the Bakamatsu, Kenshin wandered the country like a ghost. He was bloodstained. A foul Nogitsune, the worst of the worst, a holy Kitsune gone terribly wrong. Spiritually dripping blood that he could never remove from his soul.

Even the biggest and most terrible youkai had never had such a purposeful and intimate human body count. Some of them ate humans, but those that did viewed humanity as little more than livestock and the murder did not weigh heavily on their souls. But Battousai truly knew the weight of every life and he could feel each death heavy on his soul.

He had no home, nowhere he could even think about laying his head to rest for more than three nights.

The government was hunting him down, benignly, but hunting all the same. They would want him to kill again for them, and though it was all he was good at, he didn’t want to do it anymore.

Unlike other youkai, he could not retreat into Youkai spaces or territories. He had no clan, no family, no friends and a master he had shamed so utterly, he could never again show his face before him. He wouldn’t even know where to go to find the Youkai-only territories, even if he could.

He couldn’t even retreat to the wilderness, even though it would be the sensible option. He had made an oath, he needed to make up for the deaths he caused, and he couldn’t help people if he hid away from them.

So, he roamed human societies and cities even as the noose of the government grew tighter. As what felt like the last supernatural creature in a steadily modernizing world, he knew it wouldn’t be long before humanity constricted around him and finally killed him.

And then he ran into Saito again.

And it gave him hope.

For if the wildest of the wolves could live comfortably in this new world without taming or losing himself, then there was hope for him.

(and there are fights and the gathering of what could be a family around him, and he finds other youkai, adapting to living among humanity.)

(And he finally faces his dragon-master and realizes he had not shamed him after all)

(For he is an orphan fox with a dragon’s heart in his soul)

**Author's Note:**

> (Daiyoukai/Taiyoukai - basically just really strong youkai...so like a ninetailed kitsune or something)
> 
> Ok so I know there isn't really any Wolf youkai, but you could think of them as 'Animals that lived long enough to become spirits' or just flat out Tiangou (Heavenly Dogs) which are a chinese 'youkai' that became japan's bird 'Tengu' Youkai. Or I could just admit I stole the idea from Inuyasha and leave it there.... ;)
> 
> Apparantly Okuri-inu or escorting dogs/wolves are a youkai that follow travellers. If you fall or look tired, they will eat you. But if you remain calm and thank them politely at the end of the journey, they won't. Some legends say that if you are unafraid and treat it well, it will protect you on the road. 
> 
> I was playing with the idea of Kenshin not being a youkai at all, and just his odd mannerisms from living and training alone with a hermit to make him seem like one. Or him not knowing he was one at all.


End file.
